Related papers: Counterintuitive example on relation between ZT an…
Ternary half Heusler alloys are under intense investigations recently towards achieving high thermoelectric figure-of-merit (ZT). Of particular interest is the ZrNiPb based half Heusler (HH) alloy where an optimal value of ZT = 0.7 at 773 K…
We study the physical processes at work at the interface of two thermoelectric generators (TEGs) thermally and electrically connected in series. We show and explain how these processes impact on the system's performance: the derivation of…
The best thermoelectric materials are believed to be heavily doped semiconductors. The presence of a bandgap is assumed to be essential to achieve large thermoelectric power factor and figure of merit. In this work, we study HgTe as an…
Thermoelectric (TE) air cooling is a solid-state technology that has the potential to replace conventional vapor compression-based air conditioning. In this paper, we present a detailed system-level modeling for thermoelectric air…
Recently SnSe compound was reported to have a peak thermoelectric figure-5 of-merit (ZT) of 2.62 at 923 K, but the ZT values at temperatures below 750 K are relatively low. In this work, the electronic structures of SnSe are calculated…
Relationship among efficiency and output power of heat-electric energy converters as well as of any converters for transforming of heat energy into any other kind of energy is considered. It is shown, that the parameter efficiency does not…
We show that a huge thermoelectric effect can be observed by contacting a superconductor whose density of states is spin-split by a Zeeman field with a ferromagnet with a non-zero polarization. The resulting thermopower exceeds $k_B/e$ by a…
The quest for efficient devices has fueled research in thermoelectric materials. In these materials, the goal is to maximize the Figure of Merit $ZT$. One of the components of this quantity is the Seebeck coefficient, which measures the…
We review theoretical approaches to analyzing efficiency of steady state heat to work conversion which is crucial in the timely problem of optimizing efficiency of small-scale heat engines and refrigerators. A rather abstract perspective of…
By employing a Boltzmann transport equation and using an energy and size dependent relaxation time ($\tau$) approximation (RTA), we evaluate self-consistently the thermoelectric figure-of-merit $ZT$ of a quantum wire with rectangular…
In order to improve the thermoelectric performance of TiCoSb we have substituted 50% of Ti equally with Zr and Hf at Ti site and Sb with Sn and Se equally at Sb site. The electronic structure of Ti0.5Zr0.25Hf0.25CoSn0.5Se0.5 is investigated…
Industrial processes release substantial quantities of waste heat, which can be harvested to generate electricity. At present, the conversion of low grade waste heat to electricity relies solely on thermoelectric materials, but such…
Searching for the high-performance thermoelectric (TE) materials has always been a long-held dream in the thermoelectricity field. Recently, it is found in experiments that the largest figure of merit ZT of $2.6$ can be reached in SnSe…
Lack of materials which are thermoelectrically efficient and economically attractive is a challenge in thermoelectricity. Silicon could be a good thermoelectric material offering CMOS compatibility, harmlessness and cost reduction but it…
In a recent article, Baranowski et al. [J. Appl. Phys. 113, 204904 (2013)] proposed a model that allegedly facilitates optimization of thermoelectric generators operation as these latter are in contact with hot and cold temperature baths…
This paper presents a rigorous calculation of the figure of merit of superlattice thermoelectric material (SL TEM) with regard to real three-dimensionality and nonparabolicity of its energy spectrum with the arbitrary level of openness of…
Systemic optimization of thermoelectric materials is arduous due to their conflicting electrical and thermal properties. A strategy based on Design of Experiments and machine learning is developed to optimize the thermoelectric efficiency…
We express the link between conductivity and coefficients of Seebeck, Nernst-Ettingshausen, Peltier, and Thompson and Reghi-Leduc via the temperature derivative of the chemical potential of a system. These general expressions are applied to…
Efficient thermoelectric materials are highly desirable, and the quest for finding them has intensified as they could be promising alternatives to fossil energy sources. Here we present a general first-principles approach to predict, in…
Two-dimensional thermoelectric materials with a figure of merit $ZT$, which is greater than 2.0 at room temperature, would be highly desirable in energy conversion since the efficiency is competitive to conventional energy conversion…